Time in the Teachings of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi

Nevi’im
252-4, or MAHZ 
Parshiyot
, i, 296-7, where Rashaz defines the 
Sabbath and the delight [
‘oneg
] associated with it as originating above time and above the order of 
concatenation. He reads the following verse literally: “then [on the Sabbath] shalt thou delight thyself 
above the Lord [
‘al YHVH
]” [Is 58:14], taking it to mean that the delight of the Sabbath lies above the 
Tetragrammaton, which comprises all three dimensions of time in the, past, present and future tense 
of the Hebrew verb to be. 

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164 
days and elevates the sparks that have been purified during the week to their supernal 
source; the influx of divine energy flowing to the worlds during the six days of the 
week returns to its infinite source, and all the lower worlds experience a moment of 
eternity by being elevated to the 
sefirah
of 
Keter
, which lies above time.
200
But when 
the Sabbath ends, the worlds descend and time is recreated anew.
201
Now, the 
supernal Sabbath, or “the day that is entirely Sabbath,” follows the same pattern, as it 
marks the conclusion of the work of purification performed during the days of the 
exile, and the supernal delight of the upper Sabbath is the source of the delight 
experienced on each and every Sabbath day throughout history.
202
In the era of 
redemption, the world will return to its source within 
Keter 
– the transcendent 
attribute of God’s will and His delight.
203
In some cases Rashaz presents circumcision day as an alternative paradigm 
of the redemption, “the day that is entirely long and entirely good.” He interprets 
circumcision, which marks the covenant between Abraham and God, as the 
disclosure of Israel that conditions full receipt of the divine revelation in the world. 
He also sees it a more important rite than the Sabbath, for according to the Sages, 
“circumcision and all its preliminaries takes precedence over the Sabbath.”
204
The 
delight of the Sabbath, which comes from above, is still somehow dependent on the 
preparatory work done during the six days of the week. By contrast, as a process that 
takes place within the divine realm, removing all the obstacles that prevent the full 
revelation of God, circumcision is a free gift “from above,” which is independent of 
any activity carried out in the lower realms.
205
Moreover, circumcision is performed 
on the eight day, and thus it supersedes the Sabbath, which is the seventh day.
206
The 
number eight also symbolises the Messiah inasmuch as it comprises the number 
200
See for example TO 10a; LT 
Shir ha-shirim 
32a; 
Seder tefilot 
169a-174a. 
201
See for example LT 
Shir ha-shirim 
25a, 
202
See 
Seder tefilot
139c; TO 8c. 
203
On the idea of delight, see Idel, “Ta‘anug.” 
204
b
Shabat 131b; see 
Seder tefilot
, 139a, 141b. 
205
On “circumcision from above” as “arousal from above” without prior arousal from below, see LT 
Tazri’a’ 
21a. 
206
See 
Seder tefilot
, 139a. 

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165 
seven of the Sabbath day, representing holiness, and the additional number one, 
representing the freedom it brings.
207
The eschatological circumcision “from above” will come to pass only after 
the fulfilment of the whole Torah and the ingathering of the exiles.
208
Its description 
is based on the Biblical account of Abraham’s circumcision: 
Abraham merited the disclosure of the mode of “and the LORD thy God will 
circumcise thine heart” [Dt 30:6], and therefore Scripture said: “was 
Abraham circumcised,” [Gn 17:26] etc. And this is the meaning of [the 
beginning of the same verse], “in the selfsame day was [Abraham] 
circumcised”, that is to say, in the essence of that day, and that day is the day 
that is entirely long and entirely good, etc. And the essence of that day is the 
disclosure that will come to pass in the future-to-come, the disclosure of “thy 
great goodness” [Ps 31:19, 145:7].
209
The passive voice used by the Biblical author in the verse “In the selfsame day was 
Abraham circumcised” [Gn 17:26] indicates to Rashaz that Abraham’s circumcision 
was not merely a rite that he performed upon himself, but rather an act initiated 
entirely by God and conducted “from above to below,” as a result of which his heart 
was circumcised.
210
The emphasis in the verse on “the selfsame day” [
be-‘etsem ha-
yom ha-zeh
] alludes, in Rashaz’s view, to the essence [
be-‘atsmiyut
] of the final 
redemption, which was revealed to Abraham on that occasion; thus his circumcision 
207
See LT 
Tazri’a 
21d, based on Bahya bar Asher 
Midrash Rabenu Bahya
, Naso, 4:47; 
Bamidbar
rabah 
15:11. 
208
See TO 13c.
209
TO 13d [Appendix 20], discussed in Wolfson, 
Alef Mem Tau
, 113-15.
210
See also T4, 4:105a-b, where Rashaz compares the two stages of circumcision, 
milah
and 
peri’ah
, 
to circumcision as performed respectively by man (from below) and by God in the messianic era 
(from above). 
Milah
stands for contemplation, in which the individual casts off all his worldly 
concerns and strives to understand and know God; 
peri’ah
stands for God’s response to man’s 
contemplation, whereby He uncovers the innermost part of man’s heart, ceases to be an object of 
man’s contemplation, and becomes “literally your whole life” beyond discursive comprehension. This 
spiritual transformation, achievement by the individual’s worship of God will become a collective 
experience in the messianic era, “when 
da’at
is diverted” (T4, 4:105b). On individual worship that 
transcends 
da’at
, see section 1.5 above. 

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166 
and its theosophic consequences prefigured the final redemption. On the eighth day 
of the redemption, the divine abundance and all its goodness will be revealed in full 
(hence: “entirely good”), with no hindrances, equally everywhere, both above and 
below.
211
Here too, Rashaz’s concept of time gives away its functional character of a 
measure of the flow of the divine light, which at the end of days will radiate equally 
everywhere, filling the entire cosmos and turning it into the everlasting divine day.